Research Articles (Historical and Heritage Studies)

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/2263/2620

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Understanding historical connections : mining mineral migrant movements
Harris, Karen Leigh (Historical Association of South Africa, 2025-05)
While Duncan Money’s article presents an intriguing account of the connectivity between Cumberland and Johannesburg, it also mirrors other similarities that extend beyond the global North and United Kingdom. It sheds light on a similar situation that played out among other migrants in the shadows of the Witwatersrand mining headgear, having consequences that rebounded far beyond the mineral mecca in South Africa.
Rediscovering the South African games : a neglected chapter in South African sports historiography
Lotter, Duncan Rudolf (Historical Association of South Africa, 2025-05)
ENGLISH : By the early 1960s, South Africa faced increasing international pressure due to its policy of apartheid. This pressure took many forms, among them a sports boycott of racially segregated sports during the apartheid era. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) was one sporting body that issued an ultimatum to the South African National Olympic Committee (SANOC) to abandon racial discrimination in sport or face possible exclusion from the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. This set in motion a ‘counter-offensive’ by the South African government to stage the first in a number of organised sports meetings they called the ‘SA Games’; a model of the Olympic Games presented in South Africa. Although the international sports boycott on South Africa has received adequate attention from academics – some of whom have traced and analysed its origins and, in certain instances, focused on its impact on specific sporting codes – the response to these boycotts at home, and in particular, the staging of an apartheid version of the Olympics, has not been researched adequately. This paper addresses that lacuna and studies the staging of various sports meetings known as the SA Games, a largely forgotten episode of South African sports history.
Reflections on D. Money's piece on Cumberland miners and the Rand
Krikler, Jeremy (Historical Association of South Africa, 2025-05)
We are all familiar with the method of comparative history, pioneered for South Africa by scholars such as George Fredrickson, John Cell and Stanley Greenburg, and which has been much developed since then. But, as Shula Marks emphasised many years ago at an international conference on race and class in Oxford, we should be alive not just to comparison but to connection. Duncan Money’s piece reminds us of the importance of Marks’s point. For his study illuminates, not by comparing mining on the Rand and in Kimberley with that in Cumberland, but by demonstrating how and why these areas were linked – and intensely so – for a time. And his detailed tracing of the connections unearths the contrasting economic histories of the regions that were central to forging the connection. In effect, the decline of iron mining in Cumberland – which deprived miners there of livelihoods – was coincident with the rise of the giant mining industry on the Rand which drew these iron miners, with their crucial skills, from the north of England to the Witwatersrand.
Exploring exploitation in Southern Africa : gender in the heritage tourism sector
Matsoso, Matikoe; Harris, Karen Leigh (Africa journals, 2025)
The aim of this article is to explore the place of women in the heritage and cultural tourism (HCT) sector with a particular focus on exploitation. It specifically considers the often-overlooked issue of gender, particularly among those who form the backbone of this industry. The objective was to investigate the potential existence of exploitative practices affecting these women in their daily lives. The analysis makes use of an intersectional methodology to consider the complex and nuanced nature of the situation. It employed an exploratory research methodology using purposive snowballing to examine the well-being of women working in the field of HCT within seven southern Africa countries using semi-structured interviews with service providers operating in both the formal and informal economy. The findings reveal that the industry subtly subjects its female workforce to various forms of exploitation and highlights the concerning reality that, even in the twenty-first century, situations resembling Kafkaesque scenarios can still arise for this vulnerable group. The study emphasizes the need for a fresh perspective that underscores the importance of conducting further critiques to enhance visibility and protection for this vulnerable group in the HCT industry. It also develops a novel diagrammatic wheel of exploitation to highlight and potentially address these issues in the sector.
Mobilising cultural heritage for locally owned adaptation
Donovan, Kate; Jackson, Rowan; O’Connell, Siona; Karunarathna, Dulma; Retnowati, Arry; Anantasari, Esti; Cha, YoungHwa; Niemand, Dominique; Harvey, David C.; Dugmore, Andrew (Springer, 2025-11-19)
Climate change adaptation planning and implementation has been criticised for following linear steps that can limit local suitability, scalability and sustainability. We argue that meaningful climate change adaptations incorporate a diversity of voices using cultural heritage for situated and multi-generational interventions. Here, we present examples of risk narratives and adaptive strategies developed through engagement with cultural heritage, balancing knowledge of environment with local livelihoods, histories, values and meaning.
Solomon Islands' 'friends to all : enemy to none' foreign policy : reconceptualising international friendship
Marggraff, Daniela Bianka (Routledge, 2026)
In recent years, states from various parts of the world have embraced the concept of a ‘friends to all, enemy to none’ foreign policy. Such states include Namibia, the Philippines, Singapore, Bangladesh, and Papua New Guinea. Solomon Islands, in the south-west Pacific Ocean, has also maintained this stance consistently and fervently. Despite the frequent use of the term ‘friendship’ or ‘friend’ in the diplomatic rhetoric of states, the concept of a ‘friends to all foreign policy’ remains underanalysed in the field of International Relations and Foreign Policy Analysis. Drawing on Oelsner and Koschut’s framework for international normative friendship, this article finds that Western-oriented IR conceptions are limited in explaining Solomon Islands’ policy of friendship. It is argued that Solomon Islands pursues what this article labels ‘pragmatic friendship.’ This form of friendship is influenced by the cultural and religious contexts of Melanesian society and is both normative as well as strategic. The addition of this term expands International Relations theory to incorporate a non-Western perspective and illustrates how small states can effectively manoeuvre geopolitical competition between major powers.
'Scientific salvation' and development : Britain, South Africa and the African regional scientific conference, October 1949
Chetty, Suryakanthie (Taylor and Francis, 2025-08-22)
The African Regional Scientific Conference took place in Johannesburg, South Africa in October 1949. With delegates drawn from South Africa, Britain, France, Portugal and Belgium, the Conference was an attempt to chart a way forward for development in Africa. This article draws upon the voluminous correspondence and reports held at The National Archives Kew, supplemented with other primary and secondary material, to consider the workings of the Conference from its inception with its commitment to delineate a distinction between science and politics to its culmination and the subsequent formation of the Scientific Council for Africa South of the Sahara. The Conference was contextualised by development policies predicated upon colonial and South African expertise and leadership which created a sense of tension and contradiction related to the racial exclusions of the apartheid state, the attempt to maintain colonial hegemony through science and impending decolonisation. This paper therefore uses the Conference as a lens to explore the changing relationship between Britain and the apartheid state and nevertheless shows that, while Britain and South Africa held opposing views regarding African development, the shared assumptions of western ‘civilisation’ led to the maintenance of hierarchies of power and knowledge that excluded those at whom development was aimed – indigenous Africans.
Interrogating the South African garrison state (1930s-1940s) : Oswald Pirow and Jan-Hendrik Hofmeyr
Kirsten, Frederik Fouché (Routledge, 2026)
This article uses a comparative biographical study of Jan-Hendrik Hofmeyr and Oswald Pirow as a foundation to interrogate South Africa of the 1930s and 1940s as a garrison state. It examines Harold Lasswell’s concept of the garrison state, a ‘developmental construct’ regarding the future path that democracies could take in their confrontation with fascism and communism in the mid-twentieth century. Hofmeyr and Pirow are representative of two opposites in the political-intellectual debates of the 1930s and 1940s within white society and both can be seen as guarantors of power. Pirow, a renowned fascist, wanted the creation of a Nazi-like state in South Africa. Hofmeyr, in contrast, espoused a liberal vision. This article is located within new scholarship on South African anti-fascism and the garrison state is cast as one counter-intuitive response to fascism.
The Oranjemund shipwreck, Namibia. The excavation of sub-Saharan Africa’s oldest discovered wreck
Werz, Bruno E.J.S. (Society of Cultural Studies and Social Sciences, Hong Kong, 2009)
On 1 April 2008, parts of an historic shipwreck were unearthed during diamond-mining operations near Oranjemund, Namibia. Initial investigations undertaken during that same month indicated that it was, most probably, the remnants of an outward-bound Portuguese ship that foundered during the second quarter of the sixteenth century. The Oranjemund shipwreck is the oldest wreck ever found in sub-Saharan Africa and received world-wide attention in the media. After an initial survey was undertaken and a representative sample of artifacts and ecofacts recovered, the site was reburied. Following this, the Namibian Government stepped in and took control of the project. A Second Phase investigation was undertaken under supervision of the author during September and October 2008, resulting in full-scale excavation of the site. This article describes aspects of archaeological fieldwork.
Shipwrecks of the United Dutch East India Company (VOC) in Table Bay, South Africa during the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
Werz, Bruno E.J.S. (Routledge, 2025-12)
During the nearly two centuries of its existence from 1602 to 1799, the United Dutch East India Company (Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie or VOC) used hundreds of vessels for its intercontinental trade. A considerable number of these foundered along South African shores. Table Bay, near the Cape of Good Hope, saw many marine incidents mainly due to its role as a halfway station on the long and dangerous voyages. This article describes the potential of VOC shipwrecks in the bay, which is an important resource for maritime archaeological studies.
Sub-Saharan Africa's oldest shipwreck : historical-archaeological research of an early modern-era Portuguese merchantman on the Namibian coast
Werz, Bruno E.J.S. (Routledge, 2010)
No abstract available.
“There cannot be two bulls in one kraal” : insights from the political conversions of Nelson Samkange on governance and opposition disruption in Zimbabwe, 1960s–2000s
Marmon, Brooks (Taylor and Francis, 2026)
ABSTRACT : This article examines the public life of Nelson Samkange, who was active in Zimbabwean politics from 1961 to the eve of his death in 2013. Samkange repeatedly shifted his party allegiance throughout Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle, but consistently opposed the ultimately victorious liberation movement, Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), until the early 1980s. After two decades of public service in parastatals, Samkange finally achieved prominence in ZANU-PF circles in 2003. His strategic nomination as provincial governor is emblematic of a pragmatic tactic of co-optation that ZANU-PF deployed to solidify support amidst the fallout from a prolonged national crisis that began in the late 1990s. The study also shows how Samkange’s variegated political heritage paradoxically coalesced to make this long-time opponent a staunch ZANU-PF demagogue who shored up the party’s revolutionary credentials at a time of strain.
Ecological heritage and relational informal learning for youth development in southern Africa
Mkwananzi, Faith; Cin, Melis; Ncube, Glen; Muntanga, Willard; De Bruyn, Paul; Mehl, Seth (Routledge, 2026)
This paper situates itself at the nexus of youth development and ecological heritage in Southern Africa, critically engaging with enduring challenges such as unemployment, poverty, and the gradual erosion of cultural identity. It examines the potential of Moringa oleifera as a key ecological resource for fostering sustainable livelihoods and reinforcing localised ecological and cultural heritage. Drawing on participatory methodologies including intergenerational learning sessions, field visits, policy dialogues, and knowledge exchanges, complemented by a short documentary, we explore how ecological heritage and relational informal learning can cultivate collective productive capabilities within emerging Moringa industries. Two key insights emerge from the study. First, relational informal learning rooted in community, land, and intergenerational ties demonstrates that ecological heritage can support sustainable livelihoods through culturally embedded knowledge, locally accessible resources, and ecologically resilient practices. Second, the interplay between intergenerational learning and ecological heritage produces collective productive capabilities that foster shared, economically oriented agency, enabling communities to create, organise, and sustain livelihood possibilities while engaging youth in socio-ecological care.
'We should not sit in judgement on a difficult social and political problem six thousand miles away.' Dwight D. Eisenhower and apartheid South Africa
Michel, Eddie (Routledge, 2025-09-01)
My article explores how geostrategic and economic factors dictated the nature of the bilateral relationship between Washington and Pretoria during the Presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower. In the context of the early Cold War, the vehement anti-communism of the National Party government combined with the vast mineral wealth of the apartheid state led to friendly relations with the practitioners of apartheid. The growth in trade and investment ties further tightened the bond between the two nations. While the Eisenhower administration occasionally offered a mild critique of South African racial policy, the White House sought no tangible disassociation from Pretoria even in the aftermath of the shootings at Sharpeville.
'A jigsaw puzzle which Britain finds difficult to solve' : Britain, Bophuthatswana and the Sun City Eight
Feather, Daniel J. (Oxford University Press, 2025-07)
In January 1984, seven British and one US national were jailed in the ‘independent’ Bantustan of Bophuthatswana for their roles in a complex fraud at a Sun City casino. This article demonstrates how the Bophuthatswana ‘government’ tried to use the detainees as pawns in their efforts to gain recognition of the territory’s independence, and the difficulties this created for British policymakers. While the Bophuthatswana authorities initially allowed British and US officials to visit the detainees, they soon became obstructive and demanded that permission be sought from their Ministry of Foreign Affairs. As neither the UK nor the USA recognized Bophuthatswana’s independence, such formal contact was ruled out. However, as this article will demonstrate, a well-orchestrated campaign by the families of the detainees put pressure on the British government, which ultimately made concessions to Bophuthatswana regarding the visa process its ministers had to undertake prior to visiting the UK to allow contact with the prisoners. This article will also demonstrate the degree of sympathy that certain sections of the British elite had for Bophuthatswana’s quest for international recognition. Indeed, the deal regarding the visa restrictions and access to the detainees was arranged through Sir Peter Emery, a Conservative member of the British parliament and chairperson of Shenley Trust, a firm hired by the Bophuthatswana government to facilitate its gold sales.
A meaningful performative experience : using forum theatre as an ethical method in sustainability science
García, María Mancilla; Lalia, Lena Bertemes; Mubai, Marlino Eugenio; Hertz, Tilman; O’Neill, Elizabeth Maria Drury; Abunge, Caroline; Bandeira, Salomão Olinda; Bousquet, François; Cheupe, Christopher; Combane, Dadivo José; Daw, Tim; Muthiga, Nyawira; Shauri, Halimu; González, Taís Sonetti (Springer, 2025-09)
Sustainability scientists have engaged in extensive discussions on ethical ways of doing research and argued on the importance of co-production approaches to counter knowledge extractivism. The specific issue of research fatigue, often associated with knowledge extractivism, and the possible methods to counter it, have however received less attention. This paper seeks to contribute to discussions on ethical ways of doing research by focusing on our experience of using theatre, specifically, Forum Theatre, to investigate divergent perceptions of environmental change and related tensions among selected coastal communities in Kenya and Mozambique. We argue that Forum Theatre constitutes an ethical method for sustainability scientists for four reasons: (i) it allows to co-produce knowledge with participants; (ii) it facilitates horizontal exchange; (iii) it creates joyful moments; and (iv) it enables the transmission of skills that remain with participants beyond project durations. The paper engages with these four themes, first theoretically and then proposing a reflection based on our project experience. In the last section, we warn against some of the limitations of the approach.
Genealogenetic biography : a proposed transdisciplinary concept and methodology
Jamison, Johanna Catharina Aletta (AOSIS, 2025-09)
This article introduces the concept of genealogenetic biography as a transdisciplinary approach to augment the epistemology of both family history narratives and historical scholarship. This approach promotes an admixture between traditional genealogy and ancestral genetics; genetic genealogy and biographical writing; social sciences methodology and natural sciences technology; and academic research and societal collaboration. The objective of the genealogenetic biography is to create new knowledge by unearthing the complexity of the concealed lives of ordinary individuals and families over time. The research workflow of genealogenetic biography begins with discipline-based study that proceeds towards incorporating interdisciplinary study. It gradually becomes transdisciplinary – from traditional pedigree reconstruction to ancestral genetic analysis and database triangulation. This progression extends to the investigation of multidisciplinary contexts, culminating in the integration of both micro- and macro-historical evidence. The article also presents an appraisal of the consequences for traditional and genetic genealogy as a recognised field of study. Envisaged applications of genealogenetic biography in history, education and transdisciplinary research are also given. The article concludes by drawing attention to future directions. TRANSDISCIPLINARY CONTRIBUTION : The proposed genealogenetic biography is a novel kind of critical family history writing that integrates traditional genealogy, ancestral genetics, multidisciplinary contexts and micro- and macro-history to unearth hidden human experiences over time. New knowledge is created through the collaboration of scholarly and non-academic grassroots societal members.
Winston field and the decolonisation of ‘British Central Africa’ : crossing racial divides with Kamuzu Banda and beyond, 1957-64
Marmon, Brooks (Routledge, 2025)
This article explores the dynamic terrain of African decolonisation via the interracial diplomacy of a right-wing Southern Rhodesian politician, Winston Field. Initially a parliamentarian in the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, Field became the Southern Rhodesian prime minister as that Federation collapsed. Despite his conservative views, Field enthusiastically pursued dialogue with the region’s anti-colonial nationalists. His most substantial outreach was with Hastings Kamuzu Banda, the Malawian nationalist leader, but he encountered anti-colonial nationalists throughout the Federation and British officials discreetly attempted to connect him to Tanganyika’s president, Julius Nyerere. Ultimately, Field’s diplomatic outreach exerted minimal impact on the region’s political affairs. However, his efforts illuminate several critical issues, including inter-white political competition in Rhodesia; the rise of Field’s successor, Ian Smith; Banda’s tolerance of reactionary white governments; the blinkered nature of Britain’s Rhodesia policy; and the consequences of a split in Zimbabwe’s nationalist movement.
Gastronomy as a special interest tourism product in Budapest
Pinke-Sziva, Ivett; Smith, Melanie Kay; Csapody, Bence; Szakály, Orsolya (Emerald, 2025-10)
PURPOSE : The aim of this study is to examine the role of gastronomy as a form of special interest tourism in cities. This includes analysing the relative importance of gastronomy compared to other activities and identifying the gastronomic preferences of tourists. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH : The research is based on questionnaire data collected from 537 tourists in Budapest, Hungary, over a period of four weeks in 2022. FINDINGS : The findings reveal that gastronomy-related experiences are becoming even more interesting for tourists than cultural attractions. They show a preference for traditional or typical foods from the city or country that they are visiting but tend to prefer casual dining experiences and street food. Fast food is ranked as highly as fine dining. Satisfaction levels are generally high, but it is difficult to compare the quality of food-related experiences with other cities without further research. Tourists show an above-average willingness to pay more for food made from local ingredients, which they see as a unique experience. ORIGINALITY/VALUE : The data provide new insights into the motivations, activities and preferences of urban tourists in relation to gastronomy. The research can help city agencies to promote traditional gastronomy further and to encourage consumption in restaurants that use local ingredients. Some attention needs to be paid to affordability, but the social implications could be very positive for food and drink producers and suppliers, as well as restaurateurs.
History and social complexities for San at Tsintsabis resettlement farm, Namibia
Koot, Stasja; Khumûb, Moses (Open Book Publishers, 2024-08)
The theme of the 1950s eviction of Haiǁom Indigenous people from the protected area that becameEtosha National Park is continued in this chapter. After this event, many Haiǁom San became farm workers. Having lost their lands under colonialism and apartheid to nature conservation and largescale livestock ranching, most remained living in the margins of society at the service of white farmers, conservationists or the South African Defence Force. After Independence in 1990, group resettlement farms became crucial to address historically built-up inequalities by providing marginalised groups with opportunities to start self-sufficient small-scale agriculture. This chapter addresses the history of the Tsintsabis resettlement farm, just over a 100 kms east of Etosha National Park, where at first predominantly Haiǁom (and to a lesser degree !Xun) were “resettled” on their own ancestral land, some as former evictees from the park. The history of Tsintsabis is analysed in relation to two pressing, and related, social complexities at this resettlement farm, namely: 1) ethnic tension and in-migration; and 2) leadership. The chapter argues that the case of Tsintsabis shows the importance of acknowledging historically built-up injustices when addressing current social complexities. The importance of doing long-term ethno-historical research about resettlement is thereby emphasised so as to be able to better understand the contextual processes within which resettlement is embedded.

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